have yourself a merry green christmas

I've always loved this time of the year - everything about it makes it conducive to introspection and time with loved ones. Everywhere, there is an intangible feeling of hope as old things come to an end and new beginnings commence. Like with most festivals, the true meaning of Christmas has always been enveloped in a frenzy of commercialism. How can we remove ourselves from the mall-madness and get in touch with the true meaning of this season?

"Peace on the Earth and goodwill towards Man" can also be extended to mean: more eco-consciousness during the season of festive joy. There are plenty of areas where you can choose to go green and here is a small list:

Trees: Real or Plastic? I hate the thought of plastic trees no matter how convenient or re-usable. Real trees always add more the holiday atmosphere but are not the greenest option; a good compromise is to buy a potted tree that can be replanted in your backyard or donated to parks. There are several options to even rent a real tree and even choose the same tree year after year. If you must buy a real tree then consider recycling it and look into local recycling services in the place where you live.

Lights and Candles: Change your Christmas light to LEDs. They're more expensive, but last much longer and use 80% to 90% less power than conventional mini bulbs. LEDs, which cast a bright white light, also stay cool to the touch so they won't singe the tree - or your fingers. Reconsider the amount of lighting you may use - do you really need to light up your entire house? Consider candles made with bee, vegetable or soya wax which are more eco-friendly than paraffin which is a petroleum product.

Gifts, Cards and Gift-wrap: Think of eco-friendly or green options for gift giving. Click here for a list of green options. Consider home/hand-made presents and eco-friendly gift-wrap while you're at it. There are several sources of hand-made, recycled gift wraps available which do not use dyes and chemicals. Send e-cards or personalized emails instead of paper-cards. If all else fails, you can always donate to charity in that person's name. Tis the season of giving folks! Lap it up. Give the gift of your time and volunteer in a soup kitchen or simply make the effort to spend it with your close family and friends. This is really what Christmas is about.

Decorations: Keep it minimal, use natural sources. Stringed popcorn and satsumas still work as decorations as well as gingerbread houses. Be creative and make your own ornaments which all adds to Christmas fun. There are several green options of decor as a quick google will show you. Consider making wreaths of herbs or a branch of the tree decorated with fruit and natural material. Think of using natural, organic poinsettias, mistletoe and holly berries. With a little creativity the options are endless.

Food and Waste: Be mindful of what you are consuming over the holidays and also be mindful of what you throw out. Try not to over-shop and use all food items that you do buy - both can be achieved with a little planning. Plan a small menu of excellent food instead of a superfluous mediocre one. Go organic, shop in the local market. Think of ways to keep the washing up to the minimal. Keep recycling and composting through the holidays and remember to switch the lights off.

Use this as a guideline, but don't stop here. Be creative, thoughtful and considerate. Merry Christmas!

travellin' thru

Photo: Akhila Vijayaraghavan ©

Like the option of greening everything, travel too can be 'greened'. The biggest environmental impact of travel comes from the mode of travel and where you stay. This is why it is recommended that you take a train, bus or drive rather than fly. Avoid taking flights for short-haul trips and definitely try to travel long-haul during the night time only. Ensure that you use a e-ticket as that reduces paper wastage. Whatever your mode of travel, pack light as every kilo increases the amount of fuel expended and this is especially true with car travel. If you are renting a car on your travels, rent a hybrid and whatever car you use, ensure that the tyres are properly inflated and employ driving techniques that ensure low fuel wastage. Other options to get around include bicycling and taking walking tours - the slower pace of both ensures that you will not miss a lot and if you like taking photos on the way (like me) both modes will ensure that you don't miss the perfect shot.

Things you can do before you travel:

• Ensure that your AC and heating are turned off
• Turn water off at outside connection (to prevent flooding should a pipe break while you're gone)
• Unplug appliances such as TVs, computers etc because they can draw or 'leak' as much as 40 watts per hour even when they're off
• Decant lotions, shampoos etc into smaller bottles and reuse these bottles instead of buying travel-sized bottles everytime
• Carry reusable water bottles with you and try not to buy bottled water

Accommodation:

• Ensure that you have the most eco-friendly accommodation which is why going camping, forest lodges etc are great options
• Let your hotel know that you do not want replacement towels and sheets everyday
• Turn off the electricity when you leave your room
• Take your dirty laundry home to be washed
• Pack your used soap to reuse or decant body wash into small bottles for use whilst away
• Do not open complimentary bottles of amenities if you do not want them

For more eco tips look here. In order to ensure that travel becomes a greener experience, many hotels and hostels are going green not only as a USP but also because running a hotel is very energy intensive and employing green initiatives also includes a cost-saving benefit. Travelocity is a great website that gives you travel tips and a list of eco-friendly hotels. Treehugger also has a list of twelve great eco-hostels.

For your next holiday try something different - toss the beaten track and tread on the path less followed. If you have always enjoyed spa breaks and staying in five-star hotels, consider eco-holidays that bring you closer to nature. Think about going on an expedition or even trekking, scuba diving or river rafting. Ecotourism begins first with the choices you make. Wherever you go learn to respect natural surroundings and follow basic rules like not littering, harming local wildlife, making loud noises etc.

Holidays with my family have always left me feeling refreshed because we have always tried to explore the quieter vistas and get away from the city. As naturally inclined travellers rather than tourists, we prefer to stay in places that encourage ecotourism. From this I have learnt that holidays that refresh the mind and body need not cost the earth.

a secret to real girl power

For International Women's Day, I'm writing about something that all women like and some love to the point of worship - clothes! There are many ways in which you can be green with your wardrobe.

Start looking at the entire process of garment making. Think about the energy it takes to grow the raw materials for your clothes. Also consider the processes of spinning, weaving, dying, designing, stitching, marketing, display, retail, disposal and all the transport between and within stages. Each of these are energy intensive and form a small industry on their own.

As women, there are definitely a lot of things we can do to green out our wardrobes. If you are a homemaker and/or a mother - this extends to your family's clothing needs as well as teaching your children the importance of shopping 'right'. Read on for a few tips:

Shop with a plan
When you bring an article of clothing into your life, that cute little number has to have a place in your wardrobe. Abandoning the impulse buy may sound boring but how exciting is a closet full of stuff that doesn’t work? In the long run, knowing what you're looking for before you shop will save time and eliminate clutter. Think about the clothes you really would like to wear, colours and styles that suit you - don't be a fashion victim, stick to timeless pieces which wear the resistance of time. Really think about how long you are going to use an item of clothing before you buy it and how it will get along with everything else in the closet. If the answer to "Will I still want to wear this in two years?" or “Can I eventually find a way to use it in a craft project?” is no, skip it. Limit shopping for clothes only one or two times a year. Periodically clean out your cupboards - you might find some old treasures you would want to wear again languishing in the back. At the very least, you'll find a bunch of clothes you'll want to give away.

Love your duds
Whatever you've chosen, take good care of it. When you get home, change out of work gear and into your famous dressing gown or leisure suit. Don’t cook or check the tire pressure in clothes you want to wear in public. Learn how to sew a button back on, or how to coax a nimble friend into doing it for you. Get the name of a local tailor or seamstress for major repairs or alterations.

Don't go dry
Though the industry has improved much since since the 90s, there is still a high likelihood that your trusty corner cleaner uses perc (tetrachloroethylene), a known carcinogen. See if there is a local green cleaner employing 'wet cleaning' or liquid CO2 techniques. Many articles whose tags ask for the dry clean treatment can actually be hand washed, especially silk, wool and linen.

Buy vintage or used
People unload clothes for all types of reasons, and you know that adage about trash and treasure. From Oscar-worthy vintage dresses to Freecycled denim, you can likely find the piece you’re looking for second hand. You’ll be giving a cast-off garment a second life, and possibly supporting charitable work in the process.

Wash well
Washing wreaks the most havoc of all. It requires lots of water and energy, so only do it when you absolutely need to and have a full laundry load. Turn articles inside out and use the lowest temp possible. If you know you glowed all over a piece, make a thin salt paste and soak the affected fabric for a half hour before washing. Choose phosphate-free and biodegradable detergents and line dry as much as possible. Treat stains quickly with nontoxic removers. If you’re buying a new washing machine, look for one with an Energy Star label.

Wear organic
Though cotton is marketed as clean, fresh and natural, conventional varieties are anything but. It takes a third of a pound of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to produce the cotton for one T-shirt! That means lots of direct, unhealthy exposure for farmers, nearby wildlife and heaps of unnecessary pollution. Luckily, organic cotton is becoming easier and easier to find. As mega-stores get into the game, however, it’s important to stay vigilant about what organic means, so you know you’re really getting clean clothes. Also know that though the cotton may have been organic to start with, your T may be full of processing chemicals and metal-laden dyes.

Find a re-purpose
A re-purposed garment used to be another or many other articles. Designers all over the globe have taken on this transformative challenge in recent years, with very wearable results. This means a one-of-a-kind look for you, a new life for old fabric, and a livelihood for maverick re-users.

Approach new fabrics with skeptical enthusiasm
No doubt you’ve heard the hype around bamboo, soy, or even corn and jute fabric. The idea of finding alternatives to petrochemical-based and conventionally grown options makes us all perk up and we see why many eco-conscious designers are excited about them. Bamboo, for instance, sounds great: it’s a fast-growing plant, not reliant on chemicals, and beautifully drapes the human form. Trouble is, bamboo plantations can displace native forests, and the harvesting and fiber processing are often polluting and unregulated. As with soy, corn, and Tencel (which comes from trees) the processing from plant to fabric is energy and resource intensive. For now, approach these as alternatives to poly, nylon, acrylic or conventional silk and await more info. As always, shop with a plan: don’t fill multiple shopping bags just because the labels say 'eco'.

Choose clothes that work for you
It’s hard to feel beautiful in your raw silk dress when it’s likely that children’s scalded hands were part of the production chain. Conventional clothing might not say it, but clothing made under fair-wage and labor practices will usually advertise it. SweatShop Watch and Behind The Label are good sources of info.

Don’t throw it all away
Finally, a stain, a tear, or changing fashion threaten to separate you from your favorite dress shirt. Don’t just abandon your old friend to the waste-stream! If the condition is perfectly good, you can always donate or Freecycle it. Additionally you can convert it to something else - examples include reusuing old T-shirts as feather dusters and as bits of rags, changing your old denims into trendy handbags etc. It all just takes a little imagination. And every woman is blessed with plenty of this.

Rethink Accessories
Don't fall for the latest trends and buy pieces that suit you. Buy durable, long-lasting pieces that you would like to wear often. Buy pieces that go with a lot of things. Check out innovative jewelery made from recycled and/or natural products. Look for convertible pieces which have more than one purpose - a brooch that doubles as a pendant and/or a belt buckle for example. Buy vegan shoes, bags and belts if you can. The options are endless! Swap accessories with your friends - have a swapping party for a green cause. Mix it up to create a new look even with what you already have.

Girl power doesn't come from having a closet overflowing with the latest trends. It comes from figuring out what suits you and feeling comfortable in what you wear among other things - this process in itself is empowering. So go on, unleash the inner goddess. As any supergirl knows, real girl power comes not from what you wear, but the way you wear it.

(Sourced from: www.treehugger.com)

green your electricity

The cost of energy in terms of money and also environmental risks is going up. 50% of the energy generated in the US is from coal. The percentage of energy sources from other other parts of the world is more of less around the same figure. However there are some ways in which you can save energy and here are some useful tips on how to improve your energy usage:

Audit yourself
A home energy audit is a way to inventory your home's energy use, where energy is lost and where it can be saved. You can do an energy audit yourself or get a pro.

Reduce your use

• Replace your light bulbs with CFLs or LEDs
  
• Turn off lights and other devises when they're not needed
• Eliminating electronics that sleep on a standby setting - remember 'vampire power'
• Clothes driers gobble up a lot of power, so line drying can be a great energy saver
  

Put your house on a diet
Homes consume an enormous amount of energy, especially in heating and cooling. Keep your house cool with natural ventilation instead of air conditioning as much as possible. Use in-room, ceiling, or whole-house fans to move air throughout the house. Blocking sunlight during hot hours of the day can help lower your cooling load. If your house uses electricity for water heating, wrapping your water tank in an insulating blanket can save on power.

Buy wise
After cooling and heating, appliances and other plug-in devises are the next biggest users of energy in your abode. When looking for new appliances, seek out the most energy-efficient models. Most new appliances come with a yellow EnergyGuide label which shows its consumption in terms of kWh per year. Also look for Energy Star rated products. Electronics like computers and audio equipment can be big power suckers, too. Look for EPEAT and Energy Star rating for these.

Homemade juice
Installing an home alternative energy system is becoming more and more cost effective as technology improves and assistance programs spread. Photovoltaic, or solar electric, systems are the most common. Depending on your available space, local climate, budget, and local utility, a solar electric system can provide all the energy needed for a typical home.

Charge up your toys
For all the portable electronic gizmos in your life, consider feeding them green power with a solar charger. Some look like notebooks, cell phones, flowers, or are built into backpacks. Your MP3 player, laptop, PDA, cell phone, and camera can all be charged with portable solar, and you'll never find yourself searching for a plug.

If you build it…you will save
A home or building designed and constructed around energy efficiency can realize enormous savings. Everything from the positioning of the house, use of daylight and natural ventilation, lighting, appliances, renewable energy system can push a building to net zero energy consumption. If you are considering building a home, do serious renovations, or an addition, make sure that energy efficiency is a key design criterion. The Energy Star rating system has a home certification program and LEED now has a rating system for residential homes.

Sign up for green power
Getting green power may be as easy as checking a box on your energy bill. It often costs a bit more but not much and it helps support the industry for clean, green power. Before you sign up, though, ask where they're getting their power from. If it's a source like waste coal or waste-to-power, you might be better off buying your credits elsewhere.

Think lifecycle
We all use energy. Even an off-the-grid house is filled with embodied energy. Everything from the power it took to manufacture the solar panels to the fuel burned in transporting the micro wind turbine from the factory - embodied energy or lifecycle energy, is in everything we buy and use. Manufacturing, advertising, packaging, shipping, etc. are all part of a product's energy history. Look at the bigger picture - be energy smart and rethink your choices.

(Sourced from www.treehugger.com)

its not easy being green...

Everybody knows the environmental problems faced today unless they've been living in caves cut off from civilization. The pundits have waxed eloquent about polar ice melting, ozone layer deteriorating, coral-reefs dying, animals becoming extinct, floods, famine, drought etc etc so much so, that the general public is left wondering what the white noise is all about. The environment has become a specialist subject when it need not be so.

Social responsibility as far as the environment is concerned is left in the hands of 'the big guns' with people left floundering especially in countries where the general public can do more. The movement to protect our natural resources has yet to reach the momentum of a revolution that brings 'power to the people' -- until this happens, these issues cannot be tackled holistically.

The idea is to break it down into bits and realise that the world we live in is intricately connected. Harm to a part is harm to the whole, where the converse is also true. Once this is done, the subject of tackling environmental problems becomes easier to handle. Not everybody can do everything right by the so-called book of Laws of Being Green... Kermit had it right - it's not easy being green! Part of this reason is because there is too much information - this blog aims to address the problem of over-abundance of information and break everything down to bite-sized chunks which are do-able.

Doing a few things right ultimately is better than doing many things wrong or worse, not doing anything at all - apathy is the worst kind of negligence there is. I'd like to leave you with that thought for now...